| Shuttleworth clarifies Ubuntu's stance on proprietary drivers |
Feb. 16, 2007
 Analysis -- Ubuntu's Technical Board has decided not to activate proprietary video drivers by default in the upcoming Ubuntu 7.04 ("Feisty Fawn") release. Some people have interpreted this to mean that Feisty won't include these drivers, or that Ubuntu was backing away from proprietary drivers.
Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu's founder and backer, however, has now taken pains to tell the public that Ubuntu will continue to include and use proprietary software for "essential hardware."
In his blog, Shuttleworth explained that the Technical Board had re-affirmed Ubuntu's "policy of including proprietary drivers ... are required to enable essential hardware functionality."
And what does that mean? "We define 'essential hardware' as functionality which exists widely and for which there are free software applications that are broadly useful and which take advantage of that hardware. The canonical example has always been wifi drivers, some of which only come in proprietary blobs, but which of course enable huge parts of the free software stack to Just Work. We have always shipped those, and intend to continue to do so."
The reason why Ubuntu is not activating 3D graphics drivers is that while Shuttleworth and the rest of the Ubuntu development crew believe that "3D video functionality would be considered essential for Feisty," they also don't think it's ready for prime-time yet. While they "believe that 3D is an essential part of the modern desktop experience," they also think that the "status of the free software applications that depend on that hardware functionality... [was] not ready for inclusion by default in Feisty. Neither Compiz nor Beryl have the requisite stability and compatibility to be a default option in Feisty."
The Compiz and Beryl projects combine a window manager and a composite manager using OpenGL, to produce 3D and other graphical special effects such as translucency. They are usually used with existing Linux desktop environments, such as KDE and GNOME, to produce more attractive user desktops.
Shuttleworth went on to say that it was the immaturity of these projects that "blocked the decision to enable proprietary video drivers by default, not an aversion to their inclusion. For better or worse, we already crossed that line right at the beginning of the Ubuntu project, and reaffirmed that policy during this debate. It is highly likely that Feisty+1 will see the inclusion of Compiz or Beryl by default, looking at their maturity and ongoing community involvement, and that will catalyse the decision to enable this hardware functionality by default too, even if that means using these proprietary drivers."
Ubuntu has also recently partnered with Linspire to enable its users to buy, update, and install software from Linspire's newly opened CNR (Click N Run) software installation system. CNR includes easy access to essentially all proprietary software and drivers that work with Linux.
However, Shuttleworth continued, Ubuntu recognizes Ubuntu's obligation to open-source software and the free software movement.
Specifically, Ubuntu will be more forceful fighting software patents. "We will also shortly announce participation in another patent-related initiative aimed at preventing a hostile take-over of the free software space by those with entrenched software IP (intellectual property) positions."
Ubuntu will also actively support Nouveau, a group working on open-source NVIDIA graphic drivers), and other efforts to develop free software drivers that enable the requisite functionality. Shuttleworth continued, "Proprietary drivers are not the preferred solution and will be eliminated once the community delivers a free alternative."
As part of that effort, Ubuntu will also work closely with hardware vendors "to continue to make the strong case in favour of free drivers."
"In addition to all of this," Shuttleworth said, "We have restarted the effort to produce a flavour of Ubuntu that includes no proprietary drivers or firmware at all. In fact, this flavour will take an ultra-conservative approach to all forms of content on the .iso, whether that be artistic or code. More on that initiative later."
There is already one Ubuntu-based distribution -- gNewSense 1.1 -- that has taken this approach. The Free Software Foundation is supporting this totally free software distribution.
As for Ubuntu proper, Shuttleworth noted that "this is not the resounding rejection of the drivers that [some users] were looking for, but I hope that the discussion has proven open, comprehensive and ultimately reasonable."
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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